Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 163 The Strongest Ability and Diplomatic Relations
The Largan region, shrouded in mist.

"Boom!!!"

The giant foot descended from the sky, crushing three armored vehicles of the Somali Empire into iron discs, killing all the people inside.

The other surviving soldiers were on the verge of collapse upon seeing this: "Captain, this beast is too powerful, we have to retreat!"

"No!" the captain's voice came through the walkie-talkie. "Your mission is to hold off the giant monster. Retreating without orders will result in a court-martial!"

"But--"

"here we go again!!!"

"Boom!!!"

The giant foot descended from the sky once more, instantly crushing more than a dozen Soro soldiers who had no time to dodge into a cloud of blood mist.

The remaining twenty or thirty people couldn't take it anymore. Even if they had to go to a military court, it was better than waiting to be trampled to death.

They began to retreat in disregard of the captain's orders, at which point the giant foot rose again and fell towards them.

"No!"

hum-

A ripple, invisible to the naked eye, seemed to spread through the air.

The giant remained aloft above the soldiers, as if restricted by some force, unable to fall.

The soldiers stood frozen in place, their blood running cold, completely bewildered. In that brief moment, a mental flashback had gone through them; they hadn't expected to survive.

"You all leave, I'll take care of this."

A voice startled the soldiers, and when they looked over, they saw Adam!

The soldiers who had narrowly escaped death immediately withdrew, and then the giant foot crashed down.

"Please look for the fog gate nearby," Adam said to the four women. "I'll handle this big guy."

"Adam, watch out!"

Even though the four women knew how strong Adam was and how special his abilities were, they were still worried about him in the face of such a huge enemy.

The four split up to search for the Fog Gate. Adam watched as the giant foot rose again, removed his protective helmet, looked up, and laughed, "Friend from another planet, I know you are guarding the fragment. I'll prove to you that I deserve it."

As he spoke, he raised his palm, and the surrounding mist all moved to both sides in a peculiar way. It was as if someone had cut a piece of tofu in half with a knife and then pushed the two halves apart.

As soon as the mist parted in the middle, the true appearance of the giant creature, whose owner was tens of meters tall and whose body was the owner of the giant foot, was revealed.

If Guan Tong were present at this moment, she would definitely recognize it upon seeing it—this creature appeared in the mural of Fragment 3 and is one of the largest alien beasts depicted there.

Adam looked up at the behemoth, and when he saw its head and face, he smiled slightly: "It seems I guessed right. You are not a monster, just like the giant creature near the Fog Gate in the Soro Empire."

At this moment, this colossal beast with enormous legs was also looking down at Adam. It had a single blue eye the size of several basketballs, and its gaze carried a hint of scrutiny, as if it possessed a certain degree of intelligence.

Looking at Adam, it raised its giant foot again and stomped down on him.

Adam raised his hands, and invisible ripples reappeared, holding up the giant foot as it fell.

When the giant foot landed less than three meters from Adam, it could not take another step. Both remained in the same position, seemingly engaged in some intense game that was invisible to the naked eye.

The two sides remained locked in a stalemate for about a minute before the beast lifted its giant foot and placed it aside, seemingly giving up its attack.

Adam lowered his hands, a few beads of sweat glistening on his forehead, and smiled, saying, "It seems I've gained your approval, alien friend?"

"Adam!" Amanda's voice came from nearby, "We've found the fragment!"

The giant beast turned and walked away, quickly disappearing into the mist.

Adam pondered for a moment, then went to find Amanda, who was clutching a fragment.

“I found it on the ground, which is strange.” She handed the fragment to Adam with a puzzled expression. “Shouldn’t it be in the Fog Gate Cave?”

Adam reached out and took the fragment, looking at it as he said, "Someone must have gotten it from the cave, but couldn't keep it after coming out."

Amanda was taken aback: "Adam, you mean the person who got the fragment was trampled to death by that giant-footed monster?"

"Probably. But that behemoth is our alien friend, not a monster assimilated by the fog."

"...The fog seems to be dissipating. Congratulations, Adam, you now have two fragments!"

Adam held the fragment and sensed the location of the other fragments: "I'm not the only one who got two. The holder from the Northern Star Kingdom should also have two—or perhaps the holder from the Antai Kingdom has two. Whoever it is, those two fragments are now concentrated in one person's hands."

At this moment, the other three women also came and looked at him with concern.

"Did you get the fragment?"

"Adam, are you okay?"

Adam smiled and said, "You all know my abilities, so is it really necessary to worry so much?"

The four women exchanged glances. Indeed, Adam's ability to manipulate force fields was the strongest they had ever known or witnessed, and he wielded it with unparalleled skill.

“However, obtaining the other three fragments will definitely not be so easy,” Adam sighed. “Let’s just leave it to fate.”

The four women nodded in unison. The reason the Soro Empire was able to easily transport troops for the landing was because the small country of Largan had collapsed and no longer possessed any military or defense capabilities.

However, other countries that hold fragments, such as the Cherry Blossom Kingdom, still retain a large amount of armed forces, so the Soro Empire dares not act rashly.

As for the other country, the Northern Star Kingdom, it goes without saying. Before the era of the apocalyptic rules, the Northern Star Kingdom's national strength was enough to rival the Soro Empire. After entering the era of the apocalyptic rules, it further preserved a large population thanks to the rapid response of its government.

Under these circumstances, it would be good if the Northern Star Kingdom didn't cause trouble for the Soro Empire; it would be absolutely impossible for the latter to send warships to the vicinity of the former's borders.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, in Ban Chin, the capital of Antai State.

In the northern town of Basson, at the estate, a large number of people are digging up the bombed-out houses.

They initially unearthed a large amount of supplies and weapons, thinking it was a secret armory, and that the explosion was caused by an accidental discharge.

But when they unearthed a body covered in dust and discovered that it was the manor's owner, Basson, they were all stunned.

"It's the boss?!"

"How is this going??"

When Basong's confidants saw their leader's body, they couldn't believe it for a moment.

After the explosion, they couldn't contact their boss, and his room was empty, which did make them worried. But they never imagined that their boss would die here!
Who did it? How did they do it?!
No one knows.

"The enemy! It must be the enemy!" one of his confidants cried. "The men who killed Mara have come! They want to—uh—!!"

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly felt suffocated.

Looking over, others could clearly see a tightly wrapped black line around the man's neck.

"Attack! Attack!"

"enemy!!"

"Uh!!!"

The crowd was in chaos. They saw a large number of black lines spreading on the ground, crawling onto each other, wrapping around necks and strangling people to death.

Some tried to escape but couldn't, while others desperately opened fire, killing many of their own men but causing little damage to the dense lines of shadows.

In no time at all, all the armed personnel in these manors were strangled by Shadow Line, with none escaping.

Guan Tong manipulated the shadows to release the imprisoned people. After they all left, he set fire to the manor, burning down this evil place.

Fortunately, for his own safety, Basong kept the manor surrounded by no other houses, which meant Guan Tong didn't have to worry about the fire spreading to innocent people's homes.

As he gazed at the fiery clouds formed by the manor fire in the sky, his mood improved considerably.

After the fire had been burning for more than ten minutes and Guan Tong had already left, officials from An Tai State and fire trucks finally arrived and began firefighting efforts.

After the firefighting efforts were completed, personnel from some intelligence agencies conducted an investigation.

Although Basong was just a minor warlord, his estate was located in Ban Chin. As the capital of Antai State, Ban Chin was the site of the massacre of hundreds of people in broad daylight and the burning of a large estate. The Antai State government could not possibly save face.

In particular, the officials who had been secretly colluding with Basong were furious at losing this financial backer and demanded a thorough investigation.

Before entering the shelter, Basong made a phone call. The call was to one of his own people in the official organization, informing him that a team from the Northern Star Kingdom had infiltrated and was looking for trouble.

At the time, the officials didn't take it seriously, but now that Basong's forces have been completely destroyed, they realize how serious the situation is.

When the news was reported to the highest levels of the Antai State government, it angered and embarrassed a small number of decision-makers at the top.

Banzhen is their capital, and Basong and his men are all citizens of Antai State. Now, a person or a small team from the Northern Star Kingdom has infiltrated and started a massacre. Even though Antai State is not as powerful as the Northern Star Kingdom, it cannot tolerate such humiliation.

The few decision-makers, in particular, felt fear. If the infiltrators could wipe out Basong's forces so easily, what if they were to target them?
The top leadership of Antai State immediately ordered a thorough investigation into the matter, and promptly sealed off the border, dispatching a large number of agents to search for the perpetrators from Northern Singapore.

Intelligence quickly concluded that the perpetrator was likely the legendary Ascended One, "Shadow." This conclusion was based on the numerous corpses found at the manor and their manner of death.

The investigation revealed that all of Basong's men had been strangled, while Basong himself had his heart pierced by some kind of sharp weapon. Combined with the discovery of more than a dozen bodies of Basong's men near a construction site, who had also died from having their hearts pierced by sharp weapons, the combination of these two methods of death seemed to be the way Shadow Sign killed people.

Moreover, it is now clear to all countries that "Shadow" is most likely a citizen of the Northern Star Kingdom. Therefore, as soon as the intelligence was released, the diplomatic personnel of Antai State immediately contacted the diplomatic personnel of the Northern Star Kingdom, demanding an explanation.

Upon receiving the news, the foreign affairs department of the Northern Star Kingdom was puzzled and also shared the information with other departments.

Soon enough, the relevant materials were placed on the conference table in the policy research office.

The meeting began, and after the attendees understood the situation, their expressions all became somewhat strange.

"Shadow actually crossed the border and went on a killing spree in Ban Chin, the capital of Antai State, killing more than a hundred people and burning down a manor?"

"What... is the purpose of this?"

"The problem now is that Antai State has negotiated this matter through diplomatic channels, hoping that our Beixing Kingdom will give an explanation. After all, the whole world now assumes that the Shadow is a citizen of our Beixing Kingdom."

"This is a difficult situation... How are we going to explain this? Are we going to issue a warrant for Shadow's arrest nationwide on charges of intentional homicide?"

"That won't do!" someone objected. "Wouldn't that push the shadow further away? He's one of the most powerful Ascended Beings in the world right now!"

"However, the evidence does indeed indicate that it was Shadow's doing. If our Northern Star Kingdom doesn't make a statement, will it cause problems with our diplomatic relations with Antai State?"

(End of this chapter)